2004-2008

In Romania's 2004
legislative election, held on November 28, no party won an
outright majority. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) won the
largest number of seats but is currently in opposition because the
Justice and Truth Alliance, the Democratic Union of Hungarians in
Romania, the Romanian Humanist Party(which later became the
Conservative Party), and the National Minorities formed a governing
coalition, giving it 177 seats in the Chamber of Deputies (47.9% of
the total). The Conservative Party
withdrew in December 2006, meaning that the government lost the
majority in the Chamber of Deputies.[1]. In
April 2007 the liberal prime-minister, Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu,
dismissed the Democratic Party ministers from the government and
formed a minority government with the Democratic Union of
Hungarians in Romania, marking the end of the Justice and Truth
Alliance.[2]

After the 2004 elections, several deputies from the PSD switched
to other parties (including the governing Justice and Truth Alliance)
or became independents, with the total number of PSD seats being
reduced from 113 to 105. The number of Justice and Truth Alliance
deputies also increased from 112 to 118, making it the largest
formation in parliament as of October 2006. This changed again in
December 2006, leaving the PSD with 107 seats and the Justice and
Truth Alliance with 101. Since April 2007 the Justice and Truth
Alliance has split leaving the two former members with 51
respectively 50 members. Deputies elected to the European
Parliament in the 2007
election resigned, thus reducing the number of deputies to 314
as of 4 December 2007.

A new election was held
in 2008. The table below gives the state of play before the 2008
election; parties in bold were part of the
governing coalition.[3] That
coalition was tacitly supported by the PSD.[4]

Elections to the Chamber of Deputies were held on
November 26, 2000, in which the Social Democratic Party of Romania
(PSD) won plurality. The governing majority was formed from the PSD
and the Democratic Union
of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), which, with 182 members, made
up 54.8% of seats. The president of the Chamber of Deputies during
this period was Valer Dorneanu, who was elected on
December 15, 2000. The distribution of seats was as follows:

Presidents of the
Chamber of Deputies

The Standing Bureau of the Chamber of Deputies consists of the
President
of the Chamber of Deputies, four vice-presidents, four
secretaries, and four quaestors. The President of the Standing
Bureau also serves as the President of the Chamber of Deputies. The
President is elected, by secret ballot, for the duration of the
legislative period. All the other members are elected at the
beginning of each parliamentary session. [5]